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"Dalits were asked to squat on the floor in the tea shops and notpermitted to use benches"

MADURAI: The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday ordered notice tothe State government, Dindigul Collector, and Superintendent of Policeto reply to a public interest litigation petition filed by a laboureralleging social boycott and discrimination of Dalits at Therkutheruvillage in Palani Taluk.

K. Kaliyappan (34), a resident of the village, had filed the petitionthrough his counsel, R. Alagumani, alleging the prevalence ofdouble-tumbler system (disposal cups for Dalits and glass tumblers forCaste Hindus) in three teashops and refusal to sell provisions toDalits in four grocery shops in the village.

The petitioner claimed that Dalits were asked to squat on the floor inthe tea shops and not permitted to use the benches. They were also notpermitted to enter three temples — Kaliyamman Temple, Durgai AmmanTemple and Muthusamy Temple — in the village, he alleged.

"This is a clear case of untouchability practised against the Dalits,"the petitioner's affidavit read and stated that the Palani Talukpolice too did not allow them to inaugurate an association titledDalit Arts and Literature Association to fight for their rights.

The petitioner further claimed that the Caste Hindus had imposed asocial boycott of the Dalits only after being agitated by effortstaken by the latter to form the association. The tea shop owners,grocers and others were instructed to keep the Dalits away.

A representation was made in this regard to the Dindigul RevenueDivisional Officer who conducted a peace committee meeting on November19 and instructed the representatives of the Caste Hindus to sellgroceries and other goods to the Dalits.

"Thereafter, some police officials were posted in my village near thepetty and grocery shops. The shop owners sold goods to the Dalits onlyin the presence of the policemen and not otherwise fearing they mightend up earning the wrath of the village elders," the petitioner said.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to disburse an amount of Rs 226.20 crore-a grant for students from scheduled castes and tribes as well as denotified tribes (SC/ST, DTNT) enrolled in private aided schools.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice D G Karnik has directed the government to release the amount in two weeks and pay it to the schools concerned in two weeks thereafter. Government pleader Dhairyasheel Nalavade sought a stay of eight weeks on the order, which the court declined. The directive was issued on a PIL filed by Naresh Gosavi and other parents claiming that as the government failed to disburse grant to private aided and unaided schools under the free education scheme, their children were not permitted to attend classes.

The government had in December 2010 filed an affidavit stating that the bills submitted by schools in Mumbai were comparatively higher than those in 33 districts in the state. The said financial irregularity was noticed where Rs 45 crore was released by some officials without sanction of the Social Justice Department (SJD), the affidavit said.

The petitioner's advocate Gayatri Singh argued that Rs 2,204 crore was lying idle with the social welfare department. She added that the government has used around Rs 332 crore for the purpose.

A committee appointed by the government had in April 2010 suggested three options. The first stated that government should consider paying grant of Rs 150 for students of lower category, Rs 175 for middle and Rs 200 for higher category. Thus, the amount for about 13 lakh such students in Maharashtra comes to Rs 226.20 crore.

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New Delhi, Apr 24 : Former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde on Sundaysaid the Lokpal panel may include a Dalit, provided he is a minister.

Hegde's reaction comes after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati onFriday said she wants the Lokpal panel to be reconstituted withinclusion of a Dalit.

"I don't support caste-wise panel constitution. But if at all a Dalitis to be included in the Lokpal panel, it should be one of the DalitMinisters from the government," Hegde told reporters here.On Friday, Mayawatio had said: "A Dalit from a non-politicalbackground should be included in the Lokpal Bill drafting committee."

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader said she expected Gandhian socialactivist Anna Hazare to include Scheduled Caste's in Lokpal committee,especially because Indian jurist Dr BR Ambedkar, a Dalit, hailed fromMaharashtra.

Meanwhile, Hegde on late Saturday night confirmed that he is notquitting the Lokpal panel. His decision came after meeting Gandhiansocial activist Anna Hazare on the issue.

"In the interest of the nation, I will not quit the Lokpal panel," said Hegde.

Speaking to television channels, Hegde, the ombudsman of Karnataka, onThursday said that he was frustrated with the 'vilification' targetedat the members of the joint committee formed to draft the Jan LokpalBill.

Hegde had said he was "seriously considering" quitting the panel as hewas not ready to face the kind of attacks that have been meted out tohis colleagues on the panel Shanti and Prashant Bhushan.

Called the Jan Lokpal Bill, it had seen stiff opposition from certainsections within the government and politicians possibly because itaims to give an ombudsman police-like powers to prosecute anyminister, bureaucrat or judge independently.

Weeks after the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre wasforced to bow to demands of the activists, a series of allegationsstarted sprouting up against the civil society members of the panel.

LUCKNOW: More children in dalit families of UP could be malnourished, revealed a survey conducted by CRY and its partners, released here on Thursday. The survey was conducted across 200 odd villages in eight districts. "We found that 70% of the malnourished children in the sample hailed from scheduled caste group, while 18% of them belonged to the other backward classes," said Pankaj Mehta, manager programmes, CRY.

The survey showed that over 54% of children suffered from malnutrition. However, the latest National Family Health Survey revealed that 41.6% kids in the state reported subnormal body weight. To note, provisional census data released in March shows that UP's child population is more than 2.92 crore.

Malnourishment in children also reflected the quality of life their families lead. The survey has underscored that most of the families were financially crippled and lacked access to essential services such as potable water, electricity, toilets, health services, schools, security and sanitation. "About 96% of the families with children do not earn basic minimum wages," said Nasreen Rizvi, representing one of the partner NGOs.

Mehta said that the objective of the survey is to make a ground so that targeted schemes could be run for such families.

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Posted on 28th April 2011No ResponsesOver 50,000 children living on Delhi streets

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) The national capital's streets are home toover 50,000 children, almost one percent of Delhi's total childpopulation, says a new study by an NGO.

According to the study by NGO Save the Children, 50,923 children areliving on Delhi's streets, mostly from street families, with amajority being boys. Only 20.5 percent of them were girls.

'One out of every three children (34 percent) was on the street due topoverty and hunger. Around 30 percent were on the street in search ofjobs; they had either come by themselves (17.7 percent) or were sentby their parents (12.6 percent),' the report said.

'Of these, 9 percent were on the street after running away from home,or they had been kidnapped, orphaned, or because of incidents such asriots, accidents and natural calamities, or because they hadinadvertently lost contact with their parents while travelling,' itsaid.

Almost 81 percent of the girls and 88 percent of the boys wereworking, their average monthly income being around Rs.2,240. However,half of their income (around 49 percent) was given either to theirparents, guardian, supervisors, who were some kind of gang leaders, orpolice.

According to the study, social class is a key determinant in leaving achild on the streets to work or live because one out of three streetchildren was a Dalit (36 percent), 17 percent were tribals, and 38percent belonged to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Out of a sample study on 1,009 randomly selected children, more than130 children reported having witnessed other children being abused onthe street.

'Verbal abuse was experienced and observed by almost all the children.In the case of physical abuse, more than 50 percent of the boys hadbeen beaten up as had 31.4 percent of the girls. Boys were abusedmostly by parents,guardians, police, and relatives or friends whilethe girls (nearly 63 percent) were mainly abused by relatives orfriends,' it said.

Among those who have migrated to Delhi, highest number was from Bihar(21.2 percent), followed by Uttar Pradesh (15.3 percent), Rajasthan(6.8 percent), Jharkhand (4.1 percent) and Madhya Pradesh (3.9percent).

Most of the children either had their family in Delhi (nearly 70percent), and among those who had left their families, 88.5 percentwere in touch with them.

However, only few of them wanted to return to their place of origin.

'Only a few children said that they would prefer to go back to theirplace of origin (some other state), most migrant children preferred tocontinue living in Delhi,' the report added.

He met both parties and got distributed Rs 5,000 as compensation toeach of the six victims. He will send his report to NCSC, Delhi.

A peace team comprising both Dalits and upper caste Rajputs is formed,which will meet Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar.

On Sharma's initiative, a 10-member police team has been ordered toremain deputed throughout the day at the village to avoid any untowardincident.

The NCSC, Chandigarh had taken cognisance of the Newsline report, '25km from city, Dalits have nowhere to go', on April 15. It had evensought a factual report on Dalit repression from PanchkulaSuperintendent of Police Maneesh Chaudhry and DC Ashima Brar.

A dispute over earning of about Rs 15 lakh from more than 400-acreshamlat land had led to a fight between Rajputs and Dalits on March17. Allegedly armed with sticks, the upper caste people attacked theDalits at a local CPM office, who had gathered there. In the fight,Suresh Pal, Joginder, Satpal, Lakshman, Gyan Chand and Satpal wereinjured, according to the police.

The police had registered the case the same day under Section 3 of theSC/ST Act and Section 148 (rioting), 149 (for being a member ofunlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (trespassing)and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC against over 100 people.

The main grievance of the Dalits is that even more than a month afterregistration of the case, the accused are roaming free with no onebeing arrested.

On the other hand, the civil administration is maintaining that anyarrest could lead to riots in the village.

Karnataka Dalita Sangharsha Samithi (Ambedkar vada) state committeemember Rajaram T said that the long pending demand of the samithi hasbeen fulfiled with the district administration and the Mangalore CityCorporation deciding to unveil the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar in frontof Town Hall on May 1.

Addressing a press meet here, he said the bronze statue is seven andhalf feet tall. Various organisations were demanding the installationof the statue since 1980.

He said "the beneficiaries belonging to SC/ST under Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are not receiving funds for the work undertaken." "Suvarna Bhoomi scheme of the stategovernment is unscientific. If a district administration receives moreapplications than the target, then the farmers will be selectedthrough lottery, which is unscientific. All the small farmers andmarginal farmers should get the benefits of the scheme," he added.

Rajaram said a Circle should be named after Ambedkar in the citycorporation limits. The poor Dalits who do not have sites should begiven sites. Dalit families who have been residing on government landsfor the last several years in the MCC limits should be given titledeeds and door numbers by the authorities concerned. He said "thefunds earmarked under 22.75 per cent of the budget of the MCC for theeducation of Dalit students should be utilised effectively and thescholarship should be disbursed on time. The funds earmarked for theSC/ST should be utilised for the development of SC/ST colony in MCClimits. The services of all the daily wage labourers in the MCC shouldbe regularised and funds for Dalits should not be diverted," headded.

One wonders who the "we" and the "you" are in the lengthy narrative ofSiddharthya Swapan Roy ("The Ambedkar party," Open Page, April 24).Did the "we" refer to slum-dwellers, illiterates, working people orsmall-time politicians? And who are the "you" — big-time politicians,industrialists, the middle class …? At several places, he keeps sayingwhat "we" do is indecent and ugly. Why?

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was a multi-faceted leader who contributed to therights of the underprivileged, besides drafting the Constitution. Hedid not say how his birthday should be celebrated. People decided howto do it. Celebrating his birthday need not involve deriding "you"(whatever it means).

D. Vijay Kumar,

Hyderabad

Dr. Ambedkar created awareness among the marginalised sections. Herose to the level of Chairman of the Constitution committee. Hisdetermination and perseverance are missing in present day youngsters,who are eager to reap dividends without investing.

The mode of celebration the article refers to is not particularlypraiseworthy. It is certainly not the way Dr. Ambedkar would haveliked his birth anniversary to be celebrated.

MANGALORE: Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar Vada) while welcoming a move by Mangalore City Corporation to unveil a bronze statue of the architect of Indian Constitution B R Amedkar on the premises of Town Hall on May 1, has urged the civic body to choose a more suitable day to do so. Rajaram T, executive committee member, state committee of DSS said May 1 is celebrated as May Day.

Addressing media persons here on Tuesday, Rajaram said the unveiling of statue will mark the realisation of a three-decade old demand. The installation and unveiling of the statue has come at the most opportune time when the nation is celebrating the 120th birth anniversary of Ambedkar, and also at a time when a Praveen, a dalit is heading the civic body as its mayor. MCC should however consider a more suitable day for unveiling the statue, he noted.

Rajaram at the same time also urged MCC to consider various other demands that includes constructing a circle proper at the Dr B R Ambedkar Circle opposite Jyothi Talkies, providing housing sites to site less poor, issuing hakku patra to those dalits who have been residing on revenue land for many years, providing scholarships to dalit students, for self-employment, for development of basic civic amenities under the 22.75 per cent funds.

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RAJKOT: Town planning officials of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Wednesday launched a demolition drive in city's ward number 17 and razed at least 57 illegal constructions, mostly residential, on around 2,000 square meter land originally allotted for crematorium for dalits.

According to sources in RMC, the land was meant for a crematorium for the community near Randarda lake in east zone of RMC. There was some tension in the area as the RMC squad reached for demolition, but the civic body employees were accompanied by police and the task was completed without any untoward incident.

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Thursday, April 28, 2011

As i an upper caste and upper middle class person i have come from attending a community monitoirng NRHM meeting yesterday, there is questioning of whether dalits are indeed poor by govt. officials. there was a mulsim and a christain (to my knowledge not a dalit) in this committee, and to my knoweldge no dalit or adivasi. The person heading the commtitee on civil society is very sensistive, an upper caste, he has little say on committee slection. probably i am sitting in becasue i am from upper caste

I would be grateful if somebody could ask under rti how mcuh% ias oficers are dalits and adivasis, how much % of vairous govt. and community monitoring bodies are dlaits and adviasis. within dalits let us disaggregate, Arundathiars are poorest to my knoweldge in tn.I am willing to join the rti, but it has be dalit lead. who and am I to take the lead for i do not know what it is to be a dlait

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List of Dalit students committing suicide in last four years inIndia's premier institutionsby Anoop Kumar on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 3:19pm

* Here is the list of the Dalit students who have committedsuicide in last four years.

* This is by no means an exhaustive list but covers only thosecases which we were able to document and where parents and relativeshave raised their voices and had accused the institutions of castediscrimination against their children that led to their suicides.

* We are sure that the actual numbers of Dalit students committingsuicide in country's premier institutions in last four years will bemuch higher.

The large number of Dalit and Adivasi students committing suicideclearly indicates the wide-spread prevalence of caste discriminationin the Indian education system, which perceives them as'non-meritorious', not fit to belong there.

When a student from the lowest strata of society fights against allodds to prove her merit and reach the best educational institutions inIndia, are those institutions proving themselves meritorious enough torecognize her worth, to accommodate, let alone nurture heraspirations?

When a Dalit or Adivasi student becomes an engineer, doctor, businessgraduate or scientist, it should be a cause of pride for not just thefamily or the community but for the entire nation.

The time has come for Dalit and Adivasi students to speak up, sharetheir experiences and bring their struggles in the public domain, sothat we can fight together to make our campuses castediscrimination-free.

Our communities cannot afford to lose our bright, young hopes likeLinesh and Balmukund, in the hands of an insensitive and casteisteducational system.

Our documentary 'The Death of Merit' documents the horors ofcaste-discrimination that is prevalent in AIIMS, New Delhi thatresulted in the suicide of one very bright Dalit student BalmukundBharti who was from very humble background.

do advise me as to which dalit group will take up issue seriously in tn- who will be there till the issue closes. IS IT WORTH AT ALL TO WRITE TO ANY DALIT MP/SC/ST COMMISSION. CAN I HAVE YOUR PHONE

I am not longer happy just writing and going. i want to give them my research time be there till issues close. IPR of what i write should belong to them

please see notes from yesterday visit

Ranjani

Summary of Thervoy village visit 27/4/2011

Met with 40 people, roughly half women, members of Thervoy Graman Munnera Sangam.What was reported by them as well as PRI secretary is given below:

-2000 dalit hh, as per ration card 959. Some families are joint families. 90% have agric. Land[1]which is irrigated through channels from tanks in the village, which will get affected if the SIPCOT proceeds. Some tanks were destroyed.Of the 90% who had land,70% had less than two acres, 20% had less than 1 acre and 10% had more than 2 acres.They take two crops most years,and only twice in the last 10 years they had to take one crop. They were employed for 9 months in the year in agriculture because of the irriigation. Few went out in search of wage work

-80% of the households had livestock for which fodder and water came from the grazing land and tanks/ponds. [2]

-A check dam built by the forest dept. in 1995 in the MekKalland was already destroyed by the sipcot. This is going to affect water security

-Of 7 lakes, three have been closed by sipcot. DURING MY VIIST WITH ARUL NAPM TRUCKS WERE SHIFTING SAND FROM MEKKAL POROMBOKKU LAND

-A Draft non judicial agreement was being finalised in 21-12-2008 between forest department and Thervoy Panchayat stating that the Mekal grazing land (shurbs/trees) will be managed by the panchayat (for year 2008-2009). This draft was cancelled. Again copy of this is available and handed over to sipcot.

-SIPCOT industry was announced three years back, to be constructed in Mekal grazing land (1025 acres) of the village. It was supposed to be used for Michilen tyre company, breweryand other purposes.

-Gram sabha on 15-8-2009 in which majority of the villagers took part did not approve the project as it would affect agriculture, livestock, and affect women in particular who were dependent on the grazing shrubs for fuel, fodder, open defecation, cleaning menstrual cloths. Further it was the watershed area, feeding water into the lakes and pond around. 15 hhs lived in mekkalland and some had planted cashew trees

-The PRI is headed by Vani, a dalit but her husband runs the PRI.In fifteen years, the familyhas grown economically. Another Gram sabha was convened by him in secret with 10-15 people approving the project and this was given to the govt. He/Vaniwere purchased.

-Madhumita Datta filed a RTI on 25/2/2011 and was informed on 24-3-2011 that TN Pollution control board has not issued consent for Establishment to the SIPCOT Industrial Park at Thervoy Kandigai

-After FAST AND Medha Patkar's visit the collector agreed to settle in a week, but nothing really happened.When protests happened, mainly women they were rounded and their saris were pushed off their shoulders by women and men policemen.Around 8 youthers were charge sheeted, the women were asked to leave after arrest, but they refused till the youth were released. They have come out on bail

-16 people from therovy were recruited from Therovy Munnetra Mala Sangam - mahesh, kuppan, gautam, gunasundar, kripalandan, thiruvarasu, delhikumR, Silambasan, Muniratnam, Mohan, Arulselvi, Arul , kalpana,, tirpupati gokulan, ligasami, jayalkashmi – by Foundation for Rural Recovery and Development , New delhi and informed that they were going to do a base line of their situation now so that they could document negative impact later.The questionnaire contained one question do you want sipcot project. They Sangam asked them why do you want this information- we do not want. They removed the question and asked about their livelihood.The sangam smelt the rat only when an official of this NGO came to the village with HRmanager of Michelin India company, and they chased the NGO out. The report sent by the NGO to NAPM statest that the draft report is not completed, but actually it was not completed because the society chased the orgn. out. THE DRAFT REPORT STATES THAT PEOPLE HAVE LITTLE LAND, LIVESTOCK AND EMPLOYMENT AND HOW THIS SIPCOT WILL HELP CREATE EMPLOYMENT.

-Caveat Petition issued on 19th, april 2011 by court of sub court Ponneri stating ThervoyGrama Makkal munnetra Mala Sangam should not be done on the above matter without notice to Michelin India Tamil Nadu Tyres private limited. The counsel for Caveator is M/S Kochar and co, J sivanandaraj, No 6 Indian Chambers (SICCI) Esplanade Chennai 600018

-1500 household of 2000 did have job cards, but were getting 25 days of employment at 50 days mainly women. While they wanted more days of work, they did report that it was not as though they were dependent on mnregs, as they valued their agriculture land and were employed nine months a year (the forrad report finding that people were starved of work did not apply)

-The NGO FORRAD's report that tanks,pondsand irrigated land were not being desilted was only partly true -, it needs to be asked why MNREGS was not used fully for this (it was used partly) and why Anna Marumlarchi thittam (20 lakh to pri) was not put to this cause. One tank was de-silted, the rest was used for road and burial ground. No gram sabha meeting was held according to the sangam.

-Educated youth (male and female) met stated clearly that they enjoyed working in their farms- unlike reports that they wanted factory employment.

-ON THE WHOLE THE REPORT OF FORRAD IS NOT VALID AS FAR AS THIS VILLAGE IS CONCERNED.

-Sadly women reported that one young woman who went to collect fuel had to face a naked man, and cameback. Now they are forced to go in groups of ten

Inspite of these constraints they gave us a generous hot meal, frankly i deserve a meal only if i can do some thing to prevent this

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